RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
with due consideration to congestion control. Another solution that
may be appropriate for some applications is to carry RTP over TCP
(such as in RFC 2326 [8], section 10.12). At the network layer,
resource allocation or preferential service may be available to
reduce the probability of loss. For a general description of methods
to repair streaming media, see RFC 2354 [9].
Though the RTP payload format defined in this document is capable of
transporting any MPEG-4 stream, other, more specific, formats may
exist, such as RFC 3016 [12] for transport of MPEG-4 video (ISO/IEC
14496 [1] part 2).
Configuration of the payload is provided to accommodate the
transportation of any MPEG-4 stream at any possible bit rate.
However, for a specific MPEG-4 elementary stream typically only very
few configurations are needed. So as to allow for the design of
simplified, but dedicated receivers, this specification requires that
specific modes be defined for transport of MPEG-4 streams. This
document defines modes for MPEG-4 CELP and AAC streams, as well as a
generic mode that can be used to transport any MPEG-4 stream. In the
future, new RFCs are expected to specify additional modes for the
transportation of MPEG-4 streams.
The RTP payload format defined in this document specifies carriage of
system-related information that is often equivalent to the
information that may be contained in the MPEG-4 Sync Layer (SL) as
defined in MPEG-4 Systems [1]. This document does not prescribe how
to transcode or map information from the SL to fields defined in the
RTP payload format. Such processing, if any, is left to the
discretion of the application. However, to anticipate the need for
the transportation of any additional system-related information in
the future, an auxiliary field can be configured that may carry any
such data.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119 [4].
2. Carriage of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams over RTP2.1. Signaling by MIME Format Parameters
With this payload format, a single MPEG-4 elementary stream can be
transported. Information on the type of MPEG-4 stream carried in the
payload is conveyed by MIME format parameters, as in an SDP [5]
message or by other means (see section 4). These MIME format
parameters specify the configuration of the payload. To allow for
simplified and dedicated receivers, a MIME format parameter is
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
available to signal a specific mode of using this payload. A mode
definition MAY include the type of MPEG-4 elementary stream, as well
as the applied configuration, so as to avoid the need for receivers
to parse all MIME format parameters. The applied mode MUST be
signaled.
2.2. MPEG Access Units
For carriage of compressed audio-visual data, MPEG defines Access
Units. An MPEG Access Unit (AU) is the smallest data entity to which
timing information is attributed. In the case of audio, an Access
Unit may represent an audio frame and in the case of video, a
picture. MPEG Access Units are octet-aligned by definition. If, for
example, an audio frame is not octet-aligned, up to 7 zero-padding
bits MUST be inserted at the end of the frame to achieve the octet-
aligned Access Units, as required by the MPEG-4 specification.
MPEG-4 decoders MUST be able to decode AUs in which such padding is
applied.
Consistent with the MPEG-4 specification, this document requires that
each MPEG-4 part 2 video Access Unit include all the coded data of a
picture, any video stream headers that may precede the coded picture
data, and any video stream stuffing that may follow it, up to but not
including the startcode indicating the start of a new video stream or
the next Access Unit.
2.3. Concatenation of Access Units
Frequently it is possible to carry multiple Access Units in one RTP
packet. This is particularly useful for audio; for example, when AAC
is used for encoding a stereo signal at 64 kbits/sec, AAC frames
contain on average, approximately 200 octets. On a LAN with a 1500
octet MTU, this would allow an average of 7 complete AAC frames to be
carried per RTP packet.
Access Units may have a fixed size in octets, but a variable size is
also possible. To facilitate parsing in the case of multiple
concatenated AUs in one RTP packet, the size of each AU is made known
to the receiver. When concatenating in the case of a constant AU
size, this size is communicated "out of band" through a MIME format
parameter. When concatenating in case of variable size AUs, the RTP
payload carries "in band" an AU size field for each contained AU.
In combination with the RTP payload length, the size information
allows the RTP payload to be split by the receiver back into the
individual AUs.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
To simplify the implementation of RTP receivers, it is required that
when multiple AUs are carried in an RTP packet, each AU MUST be
complete, i.e., the number of AUs in an RTP packet MUST be integral.
In addition, an AU MUST NOT be repeated in other RTP packets; hence
repetition of an AU is only possible when using a duplicate RTP
packet.
2.4. Fragmentation of Access Units
MPEG allows for very large Access Units. Since most IP networks have
significantly smaller MTU sizes, this payload format allows for the
fragmentation of an Access Unit over multiple RTP packets. Hence,
when an IP packet is lost after IP-level fragmentation, only an AU
fragment may get lost instead of the entire AU. To simplify the
implementation of RTP receivers, an RTP packet SHALL either carry one
or more complete Access Units or a single fragment of one AU, i.e.,
packets MUST NOT contain fragments of multiple Access Units.
2.5. Interleaving
When an RTP packet carries a contiguous sequence of Access Units, the
loss of such a packet can result in a "decoding gap" for the user.
One method of alleviating this problem is to allow for the Access
Units to be interleaved in the RTP packets. For a modest cost in
latency and implementation complexity, significant error resiliency
to packet loss can be achieved.
To support optional interleaving of Access Units, this payload format
allows for index information to be sent for each Access Unit. After
informing receivers about buffer resources to allocate for de-
interleaving, the RTP sender is free to choose the interleaving
pattern without propagating this information a priori to the
receiver(s). Indeed, the sender could dynamically adjust the
interleaving pattern based on the Access Unit size, error rates, etc.
The RTP receiver does not need to know the interleaving pattern used;
it only needs to extract the index information of the Access Unit and
insert the Access Unit into the appropriate sequence in the decoding
or rendering queue. An example of interleaving is given below.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
For example, if we assume that an RTP packet contains 3 AUs, and that
the AUs are numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth, and if an
interleaving group length of 9 is chosen, then RTP packet(i) contains
the following AU(n):
RTP packet(0): AU(0), AU(3), AU(6)
RTP packet(1): AU(1), AU(4), AU(7)
RTP packet(2): AU(2), AU(5), AU(8)
RTP packet(3): AU(9), AU(12), AU(15)
RTP packet(4): AU(10), AU(13), AU(16) Etc.
2.6. Time Stamp Information
The RTP time stamp MUST carry the sampling instant of the first AU
(fragment) in the RTP packet. When multiple AUs are carried within
an RTP packet, the time stamps of subsequent AUs can be calculated if
the frame period of each AU is known. For audio and video, this is
possible if the frame rate is constant. However, in some cases it is
not possible to make such a calculation (for example, for variable
frame rate video, or for MPEG-4 BIFS streams carrying composition
information). To support such cases, this payload format can be
configured to carry a time stamp in the RTP payload for each
contained Access Unit. A time stamp MAY be conveyed in the RTP
payload only for non-first AUs in the RTP packet, and SHALL NOT be
conveyed for the first AU (fragment), as the time stamp for the first
AU in the RTP packet is carried by the RTP time stamp.
MPEG-4 defines two types of time stamps: the composition time stamp
(CTS) and the decoding time stamp (DTS). The CTS represents the
sampling instant of an AU, and hence the CTS is equivalent to the RTP
time stamp. The DTS may be used in MPEG-4 video streams that use
bi-directional coding, i.e., when pictures are predicted in both
forward and backward direction by using either a reference picture in
the past, or a reference picture in the future. The DTS cannot be
carried in the RTP header. In some cases, the DTS can be derived
from the RTP time stamp using frame rate information; this requires
deep parsing in the video stream, which may be considered
objectionable. If the video frame rate is variable, the required
information may not even be present in the video stream. For both
reasons, the capability has been defined to optionally carry the DTS
in the RTP payload for each contained Access Unit.
To keep the coding of time stamps efficient, each time stamp
contained in the RTP payload is coded as a difference. For the CTS,
the offset from the RTP time stamps is provided, and for the DTS, the
offset from the CTS.
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 7]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20032.7. State Indication of MPEG-4 System Streams
ISO/IEC 14496-1 defines states for MPEG-4 system streams. So as to
convey state information when transporting MPEG-4 system streams,
this payload format allows for the optional carriage in the RTP
payload of the stream state for each contained Access Unit. Stream
states are used to signal "crucial" AUs that carry information whose
loss cannot be tolerated and are also useful when repeating AUs
according to the carousel mechanism defined in ISO/IEC 14496-1.
2.8. Random Access Indication
Random access to the content of MPEG-4 elementary streams may be
possible at some but not all Access Units. To signal Access Units
where random access is possible, a random access point flag can
optionally be carried in the RTP payload for each contained Access
Unit. Carriage of random access points is particularly useful for
MPEG-4 system streams in combination with the stream state.
2.9. Carriage of Auxiliary Information
This payload format defines a specific field to carry auxiliary data.
The auxiliary data field is preceded by a field that specifies the
length of the auxiliary data, so as to facilitate the skipping of
data without parsing it. The coding of the auxiliary data is not
defined in this document; instead, the format, meaning and signaling
of auxiliary information is expected to be specified in one or more
future RFCs. Auxiliary information MUST NOT be transmitted until its
format, meaning and signaling have been specified and its use has
been signaled. Receivers that have knowledge of the auxiliary data
MAY decode the auxiliary data, but receivers without knowledge of
such data MUST skip the auxiliary data field.
2.10. MIME Format Parameters and Configuring Conditional Fields
To support the features described in the previous sections, several
fields are defined for carriage in the RTP payload. However, their
use strongly depends on the type of MPEG-4 elementary stream that is
carried. Sometimes a specific field is needed with a certain length,
while in other cases such a field is not needed. To be efficient in
either case, the fields to support these features are configurable by
means of MIME format parameters. In general, a MIME format parameter
defines the presence and length of the associated field. A length of
zero indicates absence of the field. As a consequence, parsing of
the payload requires knowledge of MIME format parameters. The MIME
format parameters are conveyed to the receiver via SDP [5] messages,
as specified in section 4.4.1, or through other means.
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 8]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20032.11. Global Structure of Payload Format
The RTP payload following the RTP header, contains three octet-
aligned data sections, of which the first two MAY be empty, see
Figure 1.
+---------+-----------+-----------+---------------+
| RTP | AU Header | Auxiliary | Access Unit |
| Header | Section | Section | Data Section |
+---------+-----------+-----------+---------------+
<----------RTP Packet Payload----------->
Figure 1: Data sections within an RTP packet
The first data section is the AU (Access Unit) Header Section, that
contains one or more AU-headers; however, each AU-header MAY be
empty, in which case the entire AU Header Section is empty. The
second section is the Auxiliary Section, containing auxiliary data;
this section MAY also be configured empty. The third section is the
Access Unit Data Section, containing either a single fragment of one
Access Unit or one or more complete Access Units. The Access Unit
Data Section MUST NOT be empty.
2.12. Modes to Transport MPEG-4 Streams
While it is possible to build fully configurable receivers capable of
receiving any MPEG-4 stream, this specification also allows for the
design of simplified, but dedicated receivers, that are for example,
capable of receiving only one type of MPEG-4 stream. This is
achieved by requiring that specific modes be defined in order to use
this specification. Each mode may define constraints for transport
of one or more types of MPEG-4 streams, for instance on the payload
configuration.
The applied mode MUST be signaled. Signaling the mode is
particularly important for receivers that are only capable of
decoding one or more specific modes. Such receivers need to
determine whether the applied mode is supported, so as to avoid
problems with processing of payloads that are beyond the capabilities
of the receiver.
In this document several modes are defined for the transportation of
MPEG-4 CELP and AAC streams, as well as a generic mode that can be
used for any MPEG-4 stream. In the future, new RFCs may specify
other modes of using this specification. However, each mode MUST be
in full compliance with this specification (see section 3.3.7).
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 9]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20032.13. Alignment with RFC 3016
This payload can be configured as nearly identical to the payload
format defined in RFC 3016 [12] for the MPEG-4 video configurations
recommended in RFC 3016. Hence, receivers that comply with RFC 3016
can decode such RTP payload, provided that additional packets
containing video decoder configuration (VO, VOL, VOSH) are inserted
in the stream, as required by RFC 3016 [12]. Conversely, receivers
that comply with the specification in this document SHOULD be able to
decode payloads, names and parameters defined for MPEG-4 video in RFC3016 [12]. In this respect, it is strongly RECOMMENDED that the
implementation provide the ability to ignore "in band" video decoder
configuration packets that may be found in streams conforming to the
RFC 3016 video payload.
Note the "out of band" availability of the video decoder
configuration is optional in RFC 3016 [12]. To achieve maximum
interoperability with the RTP payload format defined in this
document, applications that use RFC 3016 to transport MPEG-4 video
(part 2) are recommended to make the video decoder configuration
available as a MIME parameter.
3. Payload Format3.1. Usage of RTP Header Fields and RTCP
Payload Type (PT): The assignment of an RTP payload type for this
packet format is outside the scope of this document; it is
specified by the RTP profile under which this payload format is
used, or signaled dynamically out-of-band (e.g., using SDP).
Marker (M) bit: The M bit is set to 1 to indicate that the RTP packet
payload contains either the final fragment of a fragmented Access
Unit or one or more complete Access Units.
Extension (X) bit: Defined by the RTP profile used.
Sequence Number: The RTP sequence number SHOULD be generated by the
sender in the usual manner with a constant random offset.
Timestamp: Indicates the sampling instant of the first AU contained
in the RTP payload. This sampling instant is equivalent to the
CTS in the MPEG-4 time domain. When using SDP, the clock rate of
the RTP time stamp MUST be expressed using the "rtpmap" attribute.
If an MPEG-4 audio stream is transported, the rate SHOULD be set
to the same value as the sampling rate of the audio stream. If an
MPEG-4 video stream is transported, it is RECOMMENDED that the
rate be set to 90 kHz.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
In all cases, the sender SHALL make sure that RTP time stamps are
identical only if the RTP time stamp refers to fragments of the same
Access Unit.
According to RFC 3550 [2] (section 5.1), it is RECOMMENDED that RTP
time stamps start at a random value for security reasons. This is
not an issue for synchronization of multiple RTP streams. However,
when streams from multiple sources are to be synchronized (for
example one stream from local storage, another from an RTP streaming
server), synchronization may become impossible if the receiver only
knows the original time stamp relationships. In such cases the time
stamp relationship required for obtaining synchronization may be
provided by out of band means. The format of such information, as
well as methods to convey such information, are beyond the scope of
this specification.
SSRC: set as described in RFC 3550 [2].
CC and CSRC fields are used as described in RFC 3550 [2].
RTCP SHOULD be used as defined in RFC 3550 [2]. Note that time
stamps in RTCP Sender Reports may be used to synchronize multiple
MPEG-4 elementary streams and also to synchronize MPEG-4 streams with
non-MPEG-4 streams, in case the delivery of these streams uses RTP.
3.2. RTP Payload Structure3.2.1. The AU Header Section
When present, the AU Header Section consists of the AU-headers-length
field, followed by a number of AU-headers, see Figure 2.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- .. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|AU-headers-length|AU-header|AU-header| |AU-header|padding|
| | (1) | (2) | | (n) | bits |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- .. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 2: The AU Header Section
The AU-headers are configured using MIME format parameters and MAY be
empty. If the AU-header is configured empty, the AU-headers-length
field SHALL NOT be present and consequently the AU Header Section is
empty. If the AU-header is not configured empty, then the AU-
headers-length is a two octet field that specifies the length in bits
of the immediately following AU-headers, excluding the padding bits.
Each AU-header is associated with a single Access Unit (fragment)
contained in the Access Unit Data Section in the same RTP packet.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
For each contained Access Unit (fragment), there is exactly one AU-
header. Within the AU Header Section, the AU-headers are bit-wise
concatenated in the order in which the Access Units are contained in
the Access Unit Data Section. Hence, the n-th AU-header refers to
the n-th AU (fragment). If the concatenated AU-headers consume a
non-integer number of octets, up to 7 zero-padding bits MUST be
inserted at the end in order to achieve octet-alignment of the AU
Header Section.
3.2.1.1. The AU-header
Each AU-header may contain the fields given in Figure 3. The length
in bits of the fields, with the exception of the CTS-flag, the
DTS-flag and the RAP-flag fields, is defined by MIME format
parameters; see section 4.1. If a MIME format parameter has the
default value of zero, then the associated field is not present. The
number of bits for fields that are present and that represent the
value of a parameter MUST be chosen large enough to correctly encode
the largest value of that parameter during the session.
If present, the fields MUST occur in the mutual order given in Figure
3. In the general case, a receiver can only discover the size of an
AU-header by parsing it since the presence of the CTS-delta and DTS-
delta fields is signaled by the value of the CTS-flag and DTS-flag,
respectively.
+---------------------------------------+
| AU-size |
+---------------------------------------+
| AU-Index / AU-Index-delta |
+---------------------------------------+
| CTS-flag |
+---------------------------------------+
| CTS-delta |
+---------------------------------------+
| DTS-flag |
+---------------------------------------+
| DTS-delta |
+---------------------------------------+
| RAP-flag |
+---------------------------------------+
| Stream-state |
+---------------------------------------+
Figure 3: The fields in the AU-header. If used, the AU-Index field
only occurs in the first AU-header within an AU Header
Section; in any other AU-header, the AU-Index-delta field
occurs instead.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
AU-size: Indicates the size in octets of the associated Access Unit
in the Access Unit Data Section in the same RTP packet. When the
AU-size is associated with an AU fragment, the AU size indicates
the size of the entire AU and not the size of the fragment. In
this case, the size of the fragment is known from the size of the
AU data section. This can be exploited to determine whether a
packet contains an entire AU or a fragment, which is particularly
useful after losing a packet carrying the last fragment of an AU.
AU-Index: Indicates the serial number of the associated Access Unit
(fragment). For each (in decoding order) consecutive AU or AU
fragment, the serial number is incremented by 1. When present,
the AU-Index field occurs in the first AU-header in the AU Header
Section, but MUST NOT occur in any subsequent (non-first) AU-
header in that Section. To encode the serial number in any such
non-first AU-header, the AU-Index-delta field is used.
AU-Index-delta: The AU-Index-delta field is an unsigned integer that
specifies the serial number of the associated AU as the difference
with respect to the serial number of the previous Access Unit.
Hence, for the n-th (n>1) AU, the serial number is found from:
AU-Index(n) = AU-Index(n-1) + AU-Index-delta(n) + 1
If the AU-Index field is present in the first AU-header in the AU
Header Section, then the AU-Index-delta field MUST be present in
any subsequent (non-first) AU-header. When the AU-Index-delta is
coded with the value 0, it indicates that the Access Units are
consecutive in decoding order. An AU-Index-delta value larger
than 0 signals that interleaving is applied.
CTS-flag: Indicates whether the CTS-delta field is present. A value
of 1 indicates that the field is present, a value of 0 indicates
that it is not present.
The CTS-flag field MUST be present in each AU-header if the length
of the CTS-delta field is signaled to be larger than zero. In
that case, the CTS-flag field MUST have the value 0 in the first
AU-header and MAY have the value 1 in all non-first AU-headers.
The CTS-flag field SHOULD be 0 for any non-first fragment of an
Access Unit.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
CTS-delta: Encodes the CTS by specifying the value of CTS as a 2's
complement offset (delta) from the time stamp in the RTP header of
this RTP packet. The CTS MUST use the same clock rate as the time
stamp in the RTP header.
DTS-flag: Indicates whether the DTS-delta field is present. A value
of 1 indicates that DTS-delta is present, a value of 0 indicates
that it is not present.
The DTS-flag field MUST be present in each AU-header if the length
of the DTS-delta field is signaled to be larger than zero. The
DTS-flag field MUST have the same value for all fragments of an
Access Unit.
DTS-delta: Specifies the value of the DTS as a 2's complement offset
(delta) from the CTS. The DTS MUST use the same clock rate as the
time stamp in the RTP header. The DTS-delta field MUST have the
same value for all fragments of an Access Unit.
RAP-flag: When set to 1, indicates that the associated Access Unit
provides a random access point to the content of the stream. If
an Access Unit is fragmented, the RAP flag, if present, MUST be
set to 0 for each non-first fragment of the AU.
Stream-state: Specifies the state of the stream for an AU of an
MPEG-4 system stream; each state is identified by a value of a
modulo counter. In ISO/IEC 14496-1, MPEG-4 system streams use the
AU_SequenceNumber to signal stream states. When the stream state
changes, the value of the stream-state MUST be incremented by one.
Note: no relation is required between stream-states of different
streams.
3.2.2. The Auxiliary Section
The Auxiliary Section consists of the auxiliary-data-size field
followed by the auxiliary-data field. Receivers MAY (but are not
required to) parse the auxiliary-data field; to facilitate skipping
of the auxiliary-data field by receivers, the auxiliary-data-size
field indicates the length in bits of the auxiliary-data. If the
concatenation of the auxiliary-data-size and the auxiliary-data
fields consume a non-integer number of octets, up to 7 zero padding
bits MUST be inserted immediately after the auxiliary data in order
to achieve octet-alignment. See Figure 4.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- .. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| auxiliary-data-size | auxiliary-data |padding bits |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- .. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 4: The fields in the Auxiliary Section
The length in bits of the auxiliary-data-size field is configurable
by a MIME format parameter; see section 4.1. The default length of
zero indicates that the entire Auxiliary Section is absent.
auxiliary-data-size: specifies the length in bits of the immediately
following auxiliary-data field;
auxiliary-data: the auxiliary-data field contains data of a format
not defined by this specification.
3.2.3. The Access Unit Data Section
The Access Unit Data Section contains an integer number of complete
Access Units or a single fragment of one AU. The Access Unit Data
Section is never empty. If data of more than one Access Unit is
present, then the AUs are concatenated into a contiguous string of
octets. See Figure 5. The AUs inside the Access Unit Data Section
MUST be in decoding order, though not necessarily contiguous in the
case of interleaving.
The size and number of Access Units SHOULD be adjusted such that the
resulting RTP packet is not larger than the path MTU. To handle
larger packets, this payload format relies on lower layers for
fragmentation, which may result in reduced performance.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|AU(1) |
+ |
| |
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |AU(2) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |
| |
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| | AU(n) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|AU(n) continued|
|-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 5: Access Unit Data Section; each AU is octet-aligned.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
When multiple Access Units are carried, the size of each AU MUST be
made available to the receiver. If the AU size is variable, then the
size of each AU MUST be indicated in the AU-size field of the
corresponding AU-header. However, if the AU size is constant for a
stream, this mechanism SHOULD NOT be used; instead, the fixed size
SHOULD be signaled by the MIME format parameter "constantSize"; see
section 4.1.
The absence of both AU-size in the AU-header and the constantSize
MIME format parameter indicates the carriage of a single AU
(fragment), i.e., that a single Access Unit (fragment) is transported
in each RTP packet for that stream.
3.2.3.1. Fragmentation
A packet SHALL carry either one or more complete Access Units, or a
single fragment of an Access Unit. Fragments of the same Access Unit
have the same time stamp but different RTP sequence numbers. The
marker bit in the RTP header is 1 on the last fragment of an Access
Unit, and 0 on all other fragments.
3.2.3.2. Interleaving
Unless prohibited by the signaled mode, a sender MAY interleave
Access Units. Receivers that are capable of receiving modes that
support interleaving MUST be able to decode interleaved Access Units.
When a sender interleaves Access Units, it needs to provide
sufficient information to enable a receiver to unambiguously
reconstruct the original order, even in the case of out-of-order
packets, packet loss or duplication. The information that senders
need to provide depends on whether or not the Access Units have a
constant time duration. Access Units have a constant time duration,
if:
TS(i+1) - TS(i) = constant
for any i, where:
i indicates the index of the AU in the original order, and
TS(i) denotes the time stamp of AU(i)
The MIME parameter "constantDuration" SHOULD be used to signal that
Access Units have a constant time duration; see section 4.1.
If the "constantDuration" parameter is present, the receiver can
reconstruct the original Access Unit timing based solely on the RTP
timestamp and AU-Index-delta. Accordingly, when transmitting Access
Units of constant duration, the AU-Index, if present, MUST be set to
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
the value 0. Receivers of constant duration Access Units MUST use
the RTP timestamp to determine the index of the first AU in the RTP
packet. The AU-Index-delta header and the signaled
"constantDuration" are used to reconstruct AU timing.
If the "constantDuration" parameter is not present, then senders MAY
signal AUs of constant duration by coding the AU-Index with zero in
each RTP packet. In the absence of the constantDuration parameter
receivers MUST conclude that the AUs have constant duration if the
AU-index is zero in two consecutive RTP packets.
When transmitting Access Units of variable duration, then the
"constantDuration" parameter MUST NOT be present, and the transmitter
MUST use the AU-Index to encode the index information required for
re-ordering, and the receiver MUST use that value to determine the
index of each AU in the RTP packet. The number of bits of the AU-
Index field MUST be chosen so that valid index information is
provided at the applied interleaving scheme, without causing problems
due to roll-over of the AU-Index field. In addition, the CTS-delta
MUST be coded in the AU header for each non-first AU in the RTP
packet, so that receivers can place the AUs correctly in time.
When interleaving is applied, a de-interleave buffer is needed in
receivers to put the Access Units in their correct logical
consecutive decoding order. This requires the computation of the
time stamp for each Access Unit. In case of a constant time duration
per Access Unit, the time stamp of the i-th access unit in an RTP
packet with RTP time stamp T is calculated as follows:
Timestamp[0] = T
Timestamp[i, i > 0] = T +(Sum(for k=1 to i of (AU-Index-delta[k]
+ 1))) * access-unit-duration
When AU-Index-delta is always 0, this reduces to T + i * (access-
unit-duration). This is the non-interleaved case, where the frames
are consecutive in decoding order. Note that the AU-Index field
(present for the first Access Unit) is indeed not needed in this
calculation.
3.2.3.3. Constraints for Interleaving
The size of the packets should be suitably chosen to be appropriate
to both the path MTU and the capacity of the receiver's de-interleave
buffer. The maximum packet size for a session SHOULD be chosen to
not exceed the path MTU.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
To allow receivers to allocate sufficient resources for de-
interleaving, senders MUST provide the information to receivers as
specified in this section.
AUs enter the decoder in decoding order. The de-interleave buffer is
used to re-order a stream of interleaved AUs back into decoding
order. When interleaving is applied, the decoding of "early" AUs has
to be postponed until all AUs that precede it in decoding order are
present. Therefore, these "early" AUs are stored in the de-
interleave buffer. As an example in Figure 6, the interleaving
pattern from section 2.5 is considered.
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-
Interleaved AUs | 0| 3| 6| 1| 4| 7| 2| 5| 8| 9|12|..
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-
Storage of "early" AUs 3 3 3 3 3 3
6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4
7 7 7
12 12
Figure 6: Storage of "early" AUs in the de-interleave buffer per
interleaved AU.
AU(3) is to be delivered to the decoder after AU(0), AU(1) and AU(2);
of these AUs, AU(2) arrives from the network last and hence AU(3)
needs to be stored until AU(2) is present in the pattern. Similarly,
AU(6) is to be stored until AU(5) is present, while AU(4) and AU(7)
are to be stored until AU(2) and AU(5) are present, respectively.
Note that the fullness of the de-interleave buffer varies in time.
In Figure 6, the de-interleave buffer contains at most 4, but often
less AUs.
So as to give a rough indication of the resources needed in the
receiver for de-interleaving, the maximum displacement in time of an
AU is defined. For any AU(j) in the pattern, each AU(i) with i<j
that is not yet present can be determined. The maximum displacement
in time of an AU is the maximum difference between the time stamp of
an AU in the pattern and the time stamp of the earliest AU that is
not yet present. In other words, when considering a sequence of
interleaved AUs, then:
Maximum displacement = max{TS(i) - TS(j)}
for any i and any j>i, where:
i and j indicate the index of the AU in the interleaving
pattern, and
TS denotes the time stamp of the AU.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
As an example in Figure 7, the interleaving pattern from section 2.5
is considered. For each AU in the pattern, the index is given of the
earliest of any earlier AUs not yet present. Hence for each AU(n) in
the interleaving pattern the smallest index k (with k<n) of not yet
delivered AUs is indicated. A "-" indicates that all previous AUs
are present. If the AU period is constant, the maximum displacement
equals 5 AU periods, as found for AU(6) and AU(7).
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-
Interleaved AUs | 0| 3| 6| 1| 4| 7| 2| 5| 8| 9|12|..
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-
Earliest not yet present AU - 1 1 - 2 2 - - - - 10
Figure 7: For each AU in the interleaving pattern, the earliest of
any earlier AUs not yet present
When interleaving, senders MUST signal the maximum displacement in
time during the session via the MIME format parameter
"maxDisplacement"; see section 4.1.
An estimate of the size of the de-interleave buffer is found by
multiplying the maximum displacement by the maximum bit rate:
size(de-interleave buffer) = {(maxDisplacement) * Rate(max)} / (RTP
clock frequency),
where:
Rate(max) is the maximum bit-rate of the transported stream.
Note that receivers can derive Rate(max) from the MIME format
parameters streamType, profile-level-id, and config.
However, this calculation estimates the size of the de-interleave
buffer and the required size may differ from the calculated value.
If this calculation under-estimates the size of the
de-interleave buffer, then senders, when interleaving, MUST signal a
size of the de-interleave buffer via the MIME format parameter
"de-interleaveBufferSize"; see section 4.1. If the calculation
over-estimates the size of the de-interleave buffer, then senders,
when interleaving, MAY signal a size of the de-interleave buffer via
the MIME format parameter "de-interleaveBufferSize".
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
The signaled size of the de-interleave buffer MUST be large enough to
contain all "early" AUs at any point in time during the session.
That is:
minimum de-interleave buffer size = max [sum {if TS(i) > TS(j) then
AU-size(i) else 0}]
for any j and any i<j, where:
i and j indicate the index of an AU in the interleaving
pattern,
TS(i) denotes the time stamp of AU(i), and
AU-size(i) denotes the size of AU(i) in number of octets.
If the "de-interleaveBufferSize" parameter is present, then the
applied buffer for de-interleaving in a receiver MUST have a size
that is at least equal to the signaled size of the de-interleave
buffer, else a size that is at least equal to the calculated size of
the de-interleave buffer.
No matter what interleaving scheme is used, the scheme must be
analyzed to calculate the applicable maxDisplacement value, as well
as the required size of the de-interleave buffer. Senders SHOULD
signal values that are not larger than the strictly required values;
if larger values are signaled, the receiver will buffer excessively.
Note that for low bit-rate material, the applied interleaving may
make packets shorter than the MTU size.
3.2.3.4. Crucial and Non-Crucial AUs with MPEG-4 System Data
Some Access Units with MPEG-4 system data, called "crucial" AUs,
carry information whose loss cannot be tolerated, either in the
presentation or in the decoder. At each crucial AU in an MPEG-4
system stream, the stream state changes. The stream-state MAY remain
constant at non-crucial AUs. In ISO/IEC 14496-1, MPEG-4 system
streams use the AU_SequenceNumber to signal stream states.
Example: Given three AUs, AU1 = "Insertion of node X", AU2 = "Set
position of node X", AU3 = "Set position of node X". AU1 is crucial,
since if it is lost, AU2 cannot be executed. However, AU2 is not
crucial, since AU3 can be executed even if AU2 is lost.
When a crucial AU is (possibly) lost, the stream is corrupted. For
example, when an AU is lost and the stream state has changed at the
next received AU, then it is possible that the lost AU was crucial.
Once corrupted, the stream remains corrupted until the next random
access point. Note that loss of non-crucial AUs does not corrupt the
stream. When a decoder starts receiving a stream, the decoder MUST
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
consider the stream corrupted until an AU is received that provides a
random access point.
An AU that provides a random access point, as signaled by the RAP-
flag, may or may not be crucial. Non-crucial RAP AUs provide a
"repeated" random access point for use by decoders that recently
joined the stream or that need to re-start decoding after a stream
corruption. Non-crucial RAP AUs MUST include all updates since the
last crucial RAP AU.
Upon receiving AUs, decoders are to react as follows:
a) if the RAP-flag is set to 1 and the stream-state changes, then the
AU is a crucial RAP AU, and the AU MUST be decoded.
b) if the RAP-flag is set to 1 and the stream state does not change,
then the AU is a non-crucial RAP AU, and the receiver SHOULD
decode it if the stream is corrupted. Otherwise, the decoder MUST
ignore the AU.
c) if the RAP-flag is set to 0, then the AU MUST be decoded, unless
the stream is corrupted, in which case the AU MUST be ignored.
3.3. Usage of this Specification3.3.1. General
Usage of this specification requires definition of a mode. A mode
defines how to use this specification, as deemed appropriate.
Senders MUST signal the applied mode via the MIME format parameter
"mode", as specified in section 4.1. This specification defines a
generic mode that can be used for any MPEG-4 stream, as well as
specific modes for the transportation of MPEG-4 CELP and MPEG-4 AAC
streams, defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3 [1].
When use of this payload format is signaled using SDP [5], an
"rtpmap" attribute is part of that signaling. The same requirements
apply for the rtpmap attribute in any mode compliant to this
specification. The general form of an rtpmap attribute is:
a=rtpmap:<payload type> <encoding name>/<clock rate>[/<encoding
parameters>]
For audio streams, <encoding parameters> specifies the number of
audio channels: 2 for stereo material (see RFC 2327 [5]) and 1 for
mono. Provided no additional parameters are needed, this parameter
may be omitted for mono material, hence its default value is 1.
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 21]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20033.3.2. The Generic Mode
The generic mode can be used for any MPEG-4 stream. In this mode, no
mode-specific constraints are applied; hence, in the generic mode,
the full flexibility of this specification can be exploited. The
generic mode is signaled by mode=generic.
An example is given below for the transportation of a BIFS-Anim
stream. In this example carriage of multiple BIFS-Anim Access Units
is allowed in one RTP packet. The AU-header contains the AU-size
field, the CTS-flag and, if the CTS flag is set to 1, the CTS-delta
field. The number of bits of the AU-size and the CTS-delta fields
are 10 and 16, respectively. The AU-header also contains the RAP-
flag and the Stream-state of 4 bits. This results in an AU-header
with a total size of two or four octets per BIFS-Anim AU. The RTP
time stamp uses a 1 kHz clock. Note that the media type name is
video, because the BIFS-Anim stream is part of an audio-visual
presentation. For conventions on media type names, see section 4.1.
In detail:
m=video 49230 RTP/AVP 96
a=rtpmap:96 mpeg4-generic/1000
a=fmtp:96 streamtype=3; profile-level-id=1807; mode=generic;
objectType=2; config=0842237F24001FB400094002C0; sizeLength=10;
CTSDeltaLength=16; randomAccessIndication=1;
streamStateIndication=4
Note: The a=fmtp line has been wrapped to fit the page, it comprises
a single line in the SDP file.
The hexadecimal value of the "config" parameter is the
BIFSConfiguration() as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-1. The
BIFSConfiguration() specifies that the BIFS stream is a BIFS-Anim
stream. For the description of MIME parameters, see section 4.1.
3.3.3. Constant Bit-rate CELP
This mode is signaled by mode=CELP-cbr. In this mode, one or more
complete CELP frames of fixed size can be transported in one RTP
packet; interleaving MUST NOT be used with this mode. The RTP
payload consists of one or more concatenated CELP frames, each of
equal size. CELP frames MUST NOT be fragmented when using this mode.
Both the AU Header Section and the Auxiliary Section MUST be empty.
The MIME format parameter constantSize MUST be provided to specify
the length of each CELP frame.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
For example:
m=audio 49230 RTP/AVP 96
a=rtpmap:96 mpeg4-generic/16000/1
a=fmtp:96 streamtype=5; profile-level-id=14; mode=CELP-cbr; config=
440E00; constantSize=27; constantDuration=240
Note: The a=fmtp line has been wrapped to fit the page, it comprises
a single line in the SDP file.
The hexadecimal value of the "config" parameter is the
AudioSpecificConfig()as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3.
AudioSpecificConfig() specifies a mono CELP stream with a sampling
rate of 16 kHz at a fixed bitrate of 14.4 kb/s and 6 sub-frames per
CELP frame. For the description of MIME parameters, see section 4.1.
3.3.4. Variable Bit-rate CELP
This mode is signaled by mode=CELP-vbr. With this mode, one or more
complete CELP frames of variable size can be transported in one RTP
packet with OPTIONAL interleaving. In this mode, the largest
possible value for AU-size is greater than the maximum CELP frame
size. Because CELP frames are very small, there is no support for
fragmentation of CELP frames. Hence, CELP frames MUST NOT be
fragmented when using this mode.
In this mode, the RTP payload consists of the AU Header Section,
followed by one or more concatenated CELP frames. The Auxiliary
Section MUST be empty. For each CELP frame contained in the payload,
there MUST be a one octet AU-header in the AU Header Section to
provide:
a) the size of each CELP frame in the payload and
b) index information for computing the sequence (and hence timing) of
each CELP frame.
Transport of CELP frames requires that the AU-size field be coded
with 6 bits. Therefore, in this mode 6 bits are allocated to the
AU-size field, and 2 bits to the AU-Index(-delta) field. Each AU-
Index field MUST be coded with the value 0. In the AU Header
Section, the concatenated AU-headers are preceded by the 16-bit AU-
headers-length field, as specified in section 3.2.1.
In addition to the required MIME format parameters, the following
parameters MUST be present: sizeLength, indexLength, and
indexDeltaLength. CELP frames always have a fixed duration per
Access Unit; when interleaving in this mode, this specific duration
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
MUST be signaled by the MIME format parameter constantDuration. In
addition, the parameter maxDisplacement MUST be present when
interleaving.
For example:
m=audio 49230 RTP/AVP 96
a=rtpmap:96 mpeg4-generic/16000/1
a=fmtp:96 streamtype=5; profile-level-id=14; mode=CELP-vbr; config=
440F20; sizeLength=6; indexLength=2; indexDeltaLength=2;
constantDuration=160; maxDisplacement=5
Note: The a=fmtp line has been wrapped to fit the page; it comprises
a single line in the SDP file.
The hexadecimal value of the "config" parameter is the
AudioSpecificConfig() as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3.
AudioSpecificConfig() specifies a mono CELP stream with a sampling
rate of 16 kHz, at a bitrate that varies between 13.9 and 16.2 kb/s
and with 4 sub-frames per CELP frame. For the description of MIME
parameters, see section 4.1.
3.3.5. Low Bit-rate AAC
This mode is signaled by mode=AAC-lbr. This mode supports the
transportation of one or more complete AAC frames of variable size.
In this mode, the AAC frames are allowed to be interleaved and hence
receivers MUST support de-interleaving. The maximum size of an AAC
frame in this mode is 63 octets. AAC frames MUST NOT be fragmented
when using this mode. Hence, when using this mode, encoders MUST
ensure that the size of each AAC frame is at most 63 octets.
The payload configuration in this mode is the same as in the variable
bit-rate CELP mode as defined in 3.3.4. The RTP payload consists of
the AU Header Section, followed by concatenated AAC frames. The
Auxiliary Section MUST be empty. For each AAC frame contained in the
payload, the one octet AU-header MUST provide:
a) the size of each AAC frame in the payload and
b) index information for computing the sequence (and hence timing) of
each AAC frame.
In the AU-header Section, the concatenated AU-headers MUST be
preceded by the 16-bit AU-headers-length field, as specified in
section 3.2.1.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
In addition to the required MIME format parameters, the following
parameters MUST be present: sizeLength, indexLength, and
indexDeltaLength. AAC frames always have a fixed duration per Access
Unit; when interleaving in this mode, this specific duration MUST be
signaled by the MIME format parameter constantDuration. In addition,
the parameter maxDisplacement MUST be present when interleaving.
For example:
m=audio 49230 RTP/AVP 96
a=rtpmap:96 mpeg4-generic/22050/1
a=fmtp:96 streamtype=5; profile-level-id=14; mode=AAC-lbr; config=
1388; sizeLength=6; indexLength=2; indexDeltaLength=2;
constantDuration=1024; maxDisplacement=5
Note: The a=fmtp line has been wrapped to fit the page; it comprises
a single line in the SDP file.
The hexadecimal value of the "config" parameter is the
AudioSpecificConfig(), as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3.
AudioSpecificConfig() specifies a mono AAC stream with a sampling
rate of 22.05 kHz. For the description of MIME parameters, see
section 4.1.
3.3.6. High Bit-rate AAC
This mode is signaled by mode=AAC-hbr. This mode supports the
transportation of variable size AAC frames. In one RTP packet,
either one or more complete AAC frames are carried, or a single
fragment of an AAC frame is carried. In this mode, the AAC frames
are allowed to be interleaved and hence receivers MUST support de-
interleaving. The maximum size of an AAC frame in this mode is 8191
octets.
In this mode, the RTP payload consists of the AU Header Section,
followed by either one AAC frame, several concatenated AAC frames or
one fragmented AAC frame. The Auxiliary Section MUST be empty. For
each AAC frame contained in the payload, there MUST be an AU-header
in the AU Header Section to provide:
a) the size of each AAC frame in the payload and
b) index information for computing the sequence (and hence timing) of
each AAC frame.
To code the maximum size of an AAC frame requires 13 bits.
Therefore, in this configuration 13 bits are allocated to the AU-
size, and 3 bits to the AU-Index(-delta) field. Thus, each AU-header
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
has a size of 2 octets. Each AU-Index field MUST be coded with the
value 0. In the AU Header Section, the concatenated AU-headers MUST
be preceded by the 16-bit AU-headers-length field, as specified in
section 3.2.1.
In addition to the required MIME format parameters, the following
parameters MUST be present: sizeLength, indexLength, and
indexDeltaLength. AAC frames always have a fixed duration per Access
Unit; when interleaving in this mode, this specific duration MUST be
signaled by the MIME format parameter constantDuration. In addition,
the parameter maxDisplacement MUST be present when interleaving.
For example:
m=audio 49230 RTP/AVP 96
a=rtpmap:96 mpeg4-generic/48000/6
a=fmtp:96 streamtype=5; profile-level-id=16; mode=AAC-hbr;
config=11B0; sizeLength=13; indexLength=3;
indexDeltaLength=3; constantDuration=1024
Note: The a=fmtp line has been wrapped to fit the page; it comprises
a single line in the SDP file.
The hexadecimal value of the "config" parameter is the
AudioSpecificConfig(), as defined in ISO/IEC 14496-3.
AudioSpecificConfig() specifies a 5.1 channel AAC stream with a
sampling rate of 48 kHz. For the description of MIME parameters, see
section 4.1.
3.3.7. Additional Modes
This specification only defines the modes specified in sections 3.3.2
through 3.3.6. Additional modes are expected to be defined in future
RFCs. Each additional mode MUST be in full compliance with this
specification.
Any new mode MUST be defined such that an implementation including
all the features of this specification can decode the payload format
corresponding to this new mode. For this reason, a mode MUST NOT
specify new default values for MIME parameters. In particular, MIME
parameters that configure the RTP payload MUST be present (unless
they have the default value), even if its presence is redundant in
case the mode assigns a fixed value to a parameter. A mode may
additionally define that some MIME parameters are required instead of
optional, that some MIME parameters have fixed values (or ranges),
and that there are rules restricting its usage.
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 26]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20034. IANA Considerations
This section describes the MIME types and names associated with this
payload format. Section 4.1 registers the MIME types, as per RFC2048 [3].
This format may require additional information about the mapping to
be made available to the receiver. This is done using parameters
described in the next section.
4.1. MIME Type Registration
MIME media type name: "video" or "audio" or "application"
"video" MUST be used for MPEG-4 Visual streams (ISO/IEC 14496-2) or
MPEG-4 Systems streams (ISO/IEC 14496-1) that convey information
needed for an audio/visual presentation.
"audio" MUST be used for MPEG-4 Audio streams (ISO/IEC 14496-3) or
MPEG-4 Systems streams that convey information needed for an audio
only presentation.
"application" MUST be used for MPEG-4 Systems streams (ISO/IEC
14496-1) that serve purposes other than audio/visual presentation,
e.g., in some cases when MPEG-J (Java) streams are transmitted.
Depending on the required payload configuration, MIME format
parameters may need to be available to the receiver. This is done
using the parameters described in the next section. There are
required and optional parameters.
Optional parameters are of two types: general parameters and
configuration parameters. The configuration parameters are used to
configure the fields in the AU Header section and in the auxiliary
section. The absence of any configuration parameter is equivalent to
the associated field set to its default value, which is always zero.
The absence of all configuration parameters results in a default
"basic" configuration with an empty AU-header section and an empty
auxiliary section in each RTP packet.
MIME subtype name: mpeg4-generic
Required parameters:
MIME format parameters are not case dependent; for clarity however,
both upper and lower case are used in the names of the parameters
described in this specification.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
streamType:
The integer value that indicates the type of MPEG-4 stream that is
carried; its coding corresponds to the values of the streamType,
as defined in Table 9 (streamType Values) in ISO/IEC 14496-1.
profile-level-id:
A decimal representation of the MPEG-4 Profile Level indication.
This parameter MUST be used in the capability exchange or session
set-up procedure to indicate the MPEG-4 Profile and Level
combination of which the relevant MPEG-4 media codec is capable.
For MPEG-4 Audio streams, this parameter is the decimal value from
Table 5 (audioProfileLevelIndication Values) in ISO/IEC 14496-
1, indicating which MPEG-4 Audio tool subsets are required to
decode the audio stream.
For MPEG-4 Visual streams, this parameter is the decimal value
from Table G-1 (FLC table for profile and level indication) of
ISO/IEC 14496-2 [1], indicating which MPEG-4 Visual tool
subsets are required to decode the visual stream.
For BIFS streams, this parameter is the decimal value obtained
from (SPLI + 256*GPLI), where:
SPLI is the decimal value from Table 4 in ISO/IEC 14496-1 with
the applied sceneProfileLevelIndication;
GPLI is the decimal value from Table 7 in ISO/IEC 14496-1 with
the applied graphicsProfileLevelIndication.
For MPEG-J streams, this parameter is the decimal value from table
13 (MPEGJProfileLevelIndication) in ISO/IEC 14496-1, indicating
the profile and level of the MPEG-J stream.
For OD streams, this parameter is the decimal value from table 3
(ODProfileLevelIndication) in ISO/IEC 14496-1, indicating the
profile and level of the OD stream.
For IPMP streams, this parameter has either the decimal value 0,
indicating an unspecified profile and level, or a value larger
than zero, indicating an MPEG-4 IPMP profile and level as
defined in a future MPEG-4 specification.
For Clock Reference streams and Object Content Info streams, this
parameter has the decimal value zero, indicating that profile
and level information is conveyed through the OD framework.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
config:
A hexadecimal representation of an octet string that expresses the
media payload configuration. Configuration data is mapped onto
the hexadecimal octet string in an MSB-first basis. The first bit
of the configuration data SHALL be located at the MSB of the first
octet. In the last octet, if necessary to achieve octet-
alignment, up to 7 zero-valued padding bits shall follow the
configuration data.
For MPEG-4 Audio streams, config is the audio object type specific
decoder configuration data AudioSpecificConfig(), as defined in
ISO/IEC 14496-3. For Structured Audio, the
AudioSpecificConfig() may be conveyed by other means, not
defined by this specification. If the AudioSpecificConfig() is
conveyed by other means for Structured Audio, then the config
MUST be a quoted empty hexadecimal octet string, as follows:
config="".
Note that a future mode of using this RTP payload format for
Structured Audio may define such other means.
For MPEG-4 Visual streams, config is the MPEG-4 Visual
configuration information as defined in subclause 6.2.1, Start
codes of ISO/IEC 14496-2. The configuration information
indicated by this parameter SHALL be the same as the
configuration information in the corresponding MPEG-4 Visual
stream, except for first-half-vbv-occupancy and latter-half-
vbv-occupancy, if it exists, which may vary in the repeated
configuration information inside an MPEG-4 Visual stream (See
6.2.1 Start codes of ISO/IEC 14496-2).
For BIFS streams, this is the BIFSConfig() information as defined
in ISO/IEC 14496-1. Version 1 of BIFSConfig is defined in
section 9.3.5.2, and version 2 is defined in section 9.3.5.3.
The MIME format parameter objectType signals the version of
BIFSConfig.
For IPMP streams, this is either a quoted empty hexadecimal octet
string, indicating the absence of any decoder configuration
information (config=""), or the IPMPConfiguration() as will be
defined in a future MPEG-4 IPMP specification.
For Object Content Info (OCI) streams, this is the
OCIDecoderConfiguration() information of the OCI stream, as
defined in section 8.4.2.4 in ISO/IEC 14496-1.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
For OD streams, Clock Reference streams and MPEG-J streams, this
is a quoted empty hexadecimal octet string (config=""), as no
information on the decoder configuration is required.
mode:
The mode in which this specification is used. The following modes
can be signaled:
mode=generic,
mode=CELP-cbr,
mode=CELP-vbr,
mode=AAC-lbr and
mode=AAC-hbr.
Other modes are expected to be defined in future RFCs. See also
section 3.3.7 and 4.2 of RFC 3640.
Optional general parameters:
objectType:
The decimal value from Table 8 in ISO/IEC 14496-1, indicating the
value of the objectTypeIndication of the transported stream. For
BIFS streams, this parameter MUST be present to signal the version
of BIFSConfiguration(). Note that objectTypeIndication may signal
a non-MPEG-4 stream and that the RTP payload format defined in
this document may not be suitable for carrying a stream that is
not defined by MPEG-4. The objectType parameter SHOULD NOT be set
to a value that signals a stream that cannot be carried by this
payload format.
constantSize:
The constant size in octets of each Access Unit for this stream.
The constantSize and the sizeLength parameters MUST NOT be
simultaneously present.
constantDuration:
The constant duration of each Access Unit for this stream,
measured with the same units as the RTP time stamp.
maxDisplacement:
The decimal representation of the maximum displacement in time of
an interleaved AU, as defined in section 3.2.3.3, expressed in
units of the RTP time stamp clock.
This parameter MUST be present when interleaving is applied.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
de-interleaveBufferSize:
The decimal representation in number of octets of the size of the
de-interleave buffer, described in section 3.2.3.3. When
interleaving, this parameter MUST be present if the calculation of
the de-interleave buffer size given in 3.2.3.3 and based on
maxDisplacement and rate(max) under-estimates the size of the
de-interleave buffer. If this calculation does not under-estimate
the size of the de-interleave buffer, then the
de-interleaveBufferSize parameter SHOULD NOT be present.
Optional configuration parameters:
sizeLength:
The number of bits on which the AU-size field is encoded in the
AU-header. The sizeLength and the constantSize parameters MUST
NOT be simultaneously present.
indexLength:
The number of bits on which the AU-Index is encoded in the first
AU-header. The default value of zero indicates the absence of the
AU-Index field in each first AU-header.
indexDeltaLength:
The number of bits on which the AU-Index-delta field is encoded in
any non-first AU-header. The default value of zero indicates the
absence of the AU-Index-delta field in each non-first AU-header.
CTSDeltaLength:
The number of bits on which the CTS-delta field is encoded in the
AU-header.
DTSDeltaLength:
The number of bits on which the DTS-delta field is encoded in the
AU-header.
randomAccessIndication:
A decimal value of zero or one, indicating whether the RAP-flag is
present in the AU-header. The decimal value of one indicates
presence of the RAP-flag, the default value zero indicates its
absence.
streamStateIndication:
The number of bits on which the Stream-state field is encoded in
the AU-header. This parameter MAY be present when transporting
MPEG-4 system streams, and SHALL NOT be present for MPEG-4 audio
and MPEG-4 video streams.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
auxiliaryDataSizeLength:
The number of bits that is used to encode the auxiliary-data-size
field.
Applications MAY use more parameters, in addition to those defined
above. Each additional parameter MUST be registered with IANA to
ensure that there is not a clash of names. Each additional parameter
MUST be accompanied by a specification in the form of an RFC, MPEG
standard, or other permanent and readily available reference (the
"Specification Required" policy defined in RFC 2434 [6]). Receivers
MUST tolerate the presence of such additional parameters, but these
parameters SHALL NOT impact the decoding of receivers that comply
with this specification.
Encoding considerations:
This MIME subtype is defined for RTP transport only. System
bitstreams MUST be generated according to MPEG-4 Systems
specifications (ISO/IEC 14496-1). Video bitstreams MUST be generated
according to MPEG-4 Visual specifications (ISO/IEC 14496-2). Audio
bitstreams MUST be generated according to MPEG-4 Audio specifications
(ISO/IEC 14496-3). The RTP packets MUST be packetized according to
the RTP payload format defined in RFC 3640.
Security considerations:
As defined in section 5 of RFC 3640.
Interoperability considerations:
MPEG-4 provides a large and rich set of tools for the coding of
visual objects. For effective implementation of the standard,
subsets of the MPEG-4 tool sets have been provided for use in
specific applications. These subsets, called 'Profiles', limit the
size of the tool set a decoder is required to implement. In order to
restrict computational complexity, one or more 'Levels' are set for
each Profile. A Profile@Level combination allows:
. a codec builder to implement only the subset of the standard
he needs, while maintaining interworking with other MPEG-4
devices that implement the same combination, and
. checking whether MPEG-4 devices comply with the standard
('conformance testing').
A stream SHALL be compliant with the MPEG-4 Profile@Level specified
by the parameter "profile-level-id". Interoperability between a
sender and a receiver is achieved by specifying the parameter
"profile-level-id" in MIME content. In the capability
exchange/announcement procedure, this parameter may mutually be set
to the same value.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
Published specification:
The specifications for MPEG-4 streams are presented in ISO/IEC
14496-1, 14496-2, and 14496-3. The RTP payload format is described
in RFC 3640.
Applications which use this media type:
Multimedia streaming and conferencing tools.
Additional information: none
Magic number(s): none
File extension(s):
None. A file format with the extension .mp4 has been defined for
MPEG-4 content but is not directly correlated with this MIME type for
which the sole purpose is RTP transport.
Macintosh File Type Code(s): none
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Authors of RFC 3640, IETF Audio/Video Transport working group.
Intended usage: COMMON
Author/Change controller:
Authors of RFC 3640, IETF Audio/Video Transport working group.
4.2. Registration of Mode Definitions with IANA
This specification can be used in a number of modes. The mode of
operation is signaled using the "mode" MIME parameter, with the
initial set of values specified in section 4.1. New modes may be
defined at any time, as described in section 3.3.7. These modes MUST
be registered with IANA, to ensure that there is not a clash of
names.
A new mode registration MUST be accompanied by a specification in the
form of an RFC, MPEG standard, or other permanent and readily
available reference (the "Specification Required" policy defined in
RFC 2434 [6]).
4.3. Concatenation of Parameters
Multiple parameters SHOULD be expressed as a MIME media type string,
in the form of a semicolon-separated list of parameter=value pairs
(for parameter usage examples see sections 3.3.2 up to 3.3.6).
van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 33]

RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 20034.4. Usage of SDP4.4.1. The a=fmtp Keyword
It is assumed that one typical way to transport the above-described
parameters associated with this payload format is via an SDP message
[5] for example transported to the client in reply to an RTSP
DESCRIBE [8] or via SAP [11]. In that case, the (a=fmtp) keyword
MUST be used as described in RFC 2327 [5], section 6, the syntax then
being:
a=fmtp:<format> <parameter name>=<value>[; <parameter name>=<value>]
5. Security Considerations
RTP packets using the payload format defined in this specification
are subject to the security considerations discussed in the RTP
specification [2]. This implies that confidentiality of the media
streams is achieved by encryption. Because the data compression used
with this payload format is applied end-to-end, encryption may be
performed on the compressed data so there is no conflict between the
two operations. The packet processing complexity of this payload
type (i.e., excluding media data processing) does not exhibit any
significant non-uniformity in the receiver side to cause a denial-
of-service threat.
However, it is possible to inject non-compliant MPEG streams (Audio,
Video, and Systems) so that the receiver/decoder's buffers are
overloaded, which might compromise the functionality of the receiver
or even crash it. This is especially true for end-to-end systems
like MPEG, where the buffer models are precisely defined.
MPEG-4 Systems support stream types including commands that are
executed on the terminal, like OD commands, BIFS commands, etc. and
programmatic content like MPEG-J (Java(TM) Byte Code) and MPEG-4
scripts. It is possible to use one or more of the above in a manner
non-compliant to MPEG to crash the receiver or make it temporarily
unavailable. Senders that transport MPEG-4 content SHOULD ensure
that such content is MPEG compliant, as defined in the compliance
part of IEC/ISO 14496 [1]. Receivers that support MPEG-4 content
should prevent malfunctioning of the receiver in case of non MPEG
compliant content.
Authentication mechanisms can be used to validate the sender and the
data to prevent security problems due to non-compliant malignant
MPEG-4 streams.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
In ISO/IEC 14496-1, a security model is defined for MPEG-4 Systems
streams carrying MPEG-J access units that comprise Java(TM) classes
and objects. MPEG-J defines a set of Java APIs and a secure
execution model. MPEG-J content can call this set of APIs and
Java(TM) methods from a set of Java packages supported in the
receiver within the defined security model. According to this
security model, downloaded byte code is forbidden to load libraries,
define native methods, start programs, read or write files, or read
system properties. Receivers can implement intelligent filters to
validate the buffer requirements or parametric (OD, BIFS, etc.) or
programmatic (MPEG-J, MPEG-4 scripts) commands in the streams.
However, this can increase the complexity significantly.
Implementors of MPEG-4 streaming over RTP who also implement MPEG-4
scripts (subset of ECMAScript) MUST ensure that the action of such
scripts is limited solely to the domain of the single presentation in
which they reside (thus disallowing session to session communication,
access to local resources and storage, etc). Though loading static
network-located resources (such as media) into the presentation
should be permitted, network access by scripts MUST be restricted to
such a (media) download.
6. Acknowledgements
This document evolved into RFC 3640 after several revisions. Thanks
to contributions from people in the ISMA forum, the IETF AVT Working
Group and the 4-on-IP ad-hoc group within MPEG. The authors wish to
thank all people involved, particularly Andrea Basso, Stephen Casner,
M. Reha Civanlar, Carsten Herpel, John Lazaro, Zvi Lifshitz, Young-
kwon Lim, Alex MacAulay, Bill May, Colin Perkins, Dorairaj V and
Stephan Wenger for their valuable comments and support.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
APPENDIX: Usage of this Payload Format
Appendix A. Interleave AnalysisA. Examples of Delay Analysis with InterleaveA.1. Introduction
Interleaving issues are discussed in this appendix. Some general
notes are provided on de-interleaving and error concealment, while a
number of interleaving patterns are examined, in particular for
determining the size of the de-interleave buffer and the maximum
displacement of access units in time. In these examples, the maximum
displacement is cited in terms of an access unit count, for ease of
reading. In actual streams, it is signaled in units of the RTP time
stamp clock.
A.2. De-interleaving and Error Concealment
This appendix does not describe any details on de-interleaving and
error concealment, as the control of the AU decoding and error
concealment process has little to do with interleaving. If the next
AU to be decoded is present and there is sufficient storage available
for the decoded AU, then decode it immediately. If not, wait. When
the decoding deadline is reached (i.e., the time when decoding must
begin in order to be completed by the time the AU is to be
presented), or if the decoder is some hardware that presents a
constant delay between initiation of decoding of an AU and
presentation of that AU, then decoding must begin at that deadline
time.
If the next AU to be decoded is not present when the decoding
deadline is reached, then that AU is lost so the receiver must take
whatever error concealment measures are deemed appropriate. The
play-out delay may need to be adjusted at that point (especially if
other AUs have also missed their deadline recently). Or, if it was a
momentary delay, and maintaining the latency is important, then the
receiver should minimize the glitch and continue processing with the
next AU.
A.3. Simple Group InterleaveA.3.1. Introduction
An example of regular interleave is when packets are formed into
groups. If the 'stride' of the interleave (the distance between
interleaved AUs) is N, packet 0 could contain AU(0), AU(N), AU(2N),
and so on; packet 1 could contain AU(1), AU(1+N), AU(1+2N), and so
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
on. If there are M access units in a packet, then there are M*N
access units in the group.
An example with N=M=3 follows; note that this is the same example as
given in section 2.5 and that a fixed time duration per Access Unit
is assumed:
Packet Time stamp Carried AUs AU-Index, AU-Index-delta
P(0) T[0] 0, 3, 6 0, 2, 2
P(1) T[1] 1, 4, 7 0, 2, 2
P(2) T[2] 2, 5, 8 0, 2, 2
P(3) T[9] 9,12,15 0, 2, 2
In this example, the AU-Index is present in the first AU-header and
coded with the value 0, as required for fixed duration AUs. The
position of the first AU of each packet within the group is defined
by the RTP time stamp, while the AU-Index-delta field indicates the
position of subsequent AUs relative to the first AU in the packet.
All AU-Index-delta fields are coded with the value N-1, equal to 2 in
this example. Hence the RTP time stamp and the AU-Index-delta are
used to reconstruct the original order. See also section 3.2.3.2.
A.3.2. Determining the De-interleave Buffer Size
For the regular pattern as in this example, Figure 6 in section3.2.3.3 shows that the de-interleave buffer stores at most 4 AUs. A
de-interleaveBufferSize value that is at least equal to the total
number of octets of any 4 "early" AUs that are stored at the same
time may be signaled.
A.3.3. Determining the Maximum Displacement
For the regular pattern as in this example, Figure 7 in section 3.3
shows that the maximum displacement in time equals 5 AU periods.
Hence, the minimum maxDisplacement value that must be signaled is 5
AU periods. In case each AU has the same size, this maxDisplacement
value over-estimates the de-interleave buffer size with one AU.
However, note that in case of variable AU sizes, the total size of
any 4 "early" AUs that must be stored at the same time may exceed
maxDisplacement times the maximum bitrate, in which case the de-
interleaveBufferSize must be signaled.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003A.4. More Subtle Group InterleaveA.4.1. Introduction
Another example of forming packets with group interleave is given
below. In this example, the packets are formed such that the loss of
two subsequent RTP packets does not cause the loss of two subsequent
AUs. Note that in this example, the RTP time stamps of packet 3 and
packet 4 are earlier than the RTP time stamps of packets 1 and 2,
respectively; a fixed time duration per Access Unit is assumed.
Packet Time stamp Carried AUs AU-Index, AU-Index-delta
0 T[0] 0, 5 0, 4
1 T[2] 2, 7 0, 4
2 T[4] 4, 9 0, 4
3 T[1] 1, 6 0, 4
4 T[3] 3, 8 0, 4
5 T[10] 10, 15 0, 4
and so on ..
In this example, the AU-Index is present in the first AU-header and
coded with the value 0, as required for AUs with a fixed duration.
To reconstruct the original order, the RTP time stamp and the AU-
Index-delta (coded with the value 4) are used. See also section3.2.3.2.
A.4.2. Determining the De-interleave Buffer Size
From Figure 8, it can be to determined that at most 5 "early" AUs are
to be stored. If the AUs are of constant size, then this value
equals 5 times the AU size. The minimum size of the de-interleave
buffer equals the maximum total number of octets of the "early" AUs
that are to be stored at the same time. This gives the minimum value
of the de-interleaveBufferSize that may be signaled.
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
Interleaved AUs | 0| 5| 2| 7| 4| 9| 1| 6| 3| 8|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
- - 5 - 5 - 2 7 4 9
7 4 9 5
"Early" AUs 5 6
7 7
9 9
Figure 8: Storage of "early" AUs in the de-interleave buffer per
interleaved AU.
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003A.4.3. Determining the Maximum Displacement
From Figure 9, it can be seen that the maximum displacement in time
equals 8 AU periods. Hence the minimum maxDisplacement value to be
signaled is 8 AU periods.
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
Interleaved AUs | 0| 5| 2| 7| 4| 9| 1| 6| 3| 8|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
Earliest not yet present AU - 1 1 1 1 1 - 3 - -
Figure 9: For each AU in the interleaving pattern, the earliest of
any earlier AUs not yet present
In case each AU has the same size, the found maxDisplacement value
over-estimates the de-interleave buffer size with three AUs.
However, in case of variable AU sizes, the total size of any 5
"early" AUs stored at the same time may exceed maxDisplacement times
the maximum bitrate, in which case de-interleaveBufferSize must be
signaled.
A.5. Continuous InterleaveA.5.1. Introduction
In continuous interleave, once the scheme is 'primed', the number of
AUs in a packet exceeds the 'stride' (the distance between them).
This shortens the buffering needed, smoothes the data-flow, and gives
slightly larger packets -- and thus lower overhead -- for the same
interleave. For example, here is a continuous interleave also over a
stride of 3 AUs, but with 4 AUs per packet, for a run of 20 AUs.
This shows both how the scheme 'starts up' and how it finishes. Once
again, the example assumes fixed time duration per Access Unit.
Packet Time-stamp Carried AUs AU-Index, AU-Index-delta
0 T[0] 0 0
1 T[1] 1 4 0 2
2 T[2] 2 5 8 0 2 2
3 T[3] 3 6 9 12 0 2 2 2
4 T[7] 7 10 13 16 0 2 2 2
5 T[11] 11 14 17 20 0 2 2 2
6 T[15] 15 18 0 2
7 T[19] 19 0
In this example, the AU-Index is present in the first AU-header and
coded with the value 0, as required for AUs with a fixed duration.
To reconstruct the original order, the RTP time stamp and the
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RFC 3640 Transport of MPEG-4 Elementary Streams November 2003
Full Copyright Statement
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This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
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van der Meer, et al. Standards Track [Page 43]